Two U.S. organizations will receive the 2025 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s only presidential honor recognizing performance excellence. The award, based on the Baldrige Excellence Framework and administered by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, highlights organizations that focus on organizational resilience and demonstrate strong, systematic approaches to achieving and sustaining high performance.
Eighteen organizations from the manufacturing, service, education, nonprofit and health care sectors applied for the award. This year’s honorees, both from the health care sector, exemplify sustained excellence in serving their patients and communities through effective leadership and results-driven management and operational systems.
“Our new Baldrige Award recipients have achieved and sustained exceptional performance results and improved outcomes for the people and communities they serve,” said NIST’s Robert Fangmeyer, director of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program. “The two awardees and four Best Practice Spotlight organizations announced today demonstrate that adopting the Baldrige Excellence Framework can help any organization not only improve its operations, but also better prepare for change. When disruptions occur, those who follow the principles and practices embodied within the framework know how to adapt, innovate and thrive.”
Below is a sample of the achievements of the 2025 Baldrige Award winners.
Nor-Lea Hospital District (Lovington, New Mexico) ensures access to high-quality care for rural communities through a coordinated system that includes a critical access hospital, licensed rural health clinics, school-based clinics, a specialty clinic housing nine different specialties, a cancer center and a wellness center, as well as a state-of-the-art laboratory and imaging center. Together, these services support comprehensive, patient-centered care while addressing the unique needs of the region.
Northwell Glen Cove Hospital (Glen Cove, New York) advances community health through its inpatient, acute rehabilitation, emergency and ambulatory surgical services. The hospital emphasizes personalized, high-quality treatment by aligning multidisciplinary clinical decisions with individual patient needs, while also supporting medical education, research and community outreach to strengthen long-term health outcomes.
Best Practice Spotlights
In addition to the award recipients, the Baldrige judges identified four organizations for Best Practice Spotlight recognition. These honors recognize exemplary practices demonstrated by award applicants that can serve as role models for other organizations.
Meritus Medical Center (Hagerstown, Maryland) was recognized for its innovative Food Farmacy program, which provides food as medicine to those in need based on their health conditions and socioeconomic circumstances.
El Paso County Colorado School District 49 (Peyton, Colorado) earned recognition for its 49 Voices System, an integrated approach that combines the Voice of the Student, Voice of the Parent and Voice of the Workforce to enhance communication, build trust, and inform strategic decision-making.
Mary Greeley Medical Center (Ames, Iowa) was honored for its innovative approach to community benefit, which combines the Baldrige-based Communities of Excellence framework with the Alternative Response for Community Health (ARCH) model. This integrated approach brings together hospital staff, city partners and first responders to reduce unnecessary emergency department visits, address behavioral health crises and improve overall community well-being. The organization previously received the Baldrige Award in 2019.
Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas Inc. (San Antonio, Texas) was honored for its approach to enhancing workforce culture through its Thriving Workforce Strategy, improving retention, satisfaction and engagement, while driving systemic improvements to the work environment and employee benefits.
About the Baldrige Award
Established in 1987, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award promotes the adoption of leadership-driven, customer-focused quality management systems to enhance organizational performance and sustainability. Over the decades, the program has expanded to recognize organizations of all types that achieve excellence across their operations and commit to sharing their best practices to help others improve. NIST renewed the program in 2024 to focus on identifying and recognizing organizations that are role models of resilience and long-term success.
NIST administers the Baldrige Award in partnership with the private sector, particularly the Alliance for Performance Excellence and the Baldrige Foundation nonprofit organizations. Beginning with the 2026 awards cycle, the Alliance for Performance Excellence will be taking on the management and operations for the awards process from application through examination and awardee selection. NIST and the Department of Commerce will maintain ultimate responsibility and oversight for the Baldrige Excellence Framework, the Baldrige Award, and other requirements codified in U.S. law.
Awardees are recommended by an independent panel of judges following a comprehensive review conducted by the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program’s Board of Examiners, an all-volunteer group of experts from across the nation. The examination process evaluates performance across eight key areas: leadership and governance, strategy, customers and markets, workforce, operations, organizational learning, community relationships and finance.
Award recipients and best practice organizations will share their insights and proven practices during the 37th Quest for Excellence® conference on March 29, 2026, in Baltimore, Maryland, continuing the Baldrige Program’s mission of learning, collaboration and national improvement.
Source: NIST